Happy New Year! Subfloor repair

upon removing the carpet in the master bedroom, i noticed some of the subfloor was pretty bad off. the previous owners had correctly repaired the subfloor in the bathroom (caused by a water leak), but i guess stopped at the bedroom. luckily it's not much to repair and will tackle that this afternoon. Also I'm reusing the trim to cut down on resources (which I labelled on the back to identify where each piece goes). I'll just sand them, prime and paint with no VOC paint of course!

So I've been installing the cork floors

New Sconces

Bought some new sconces for the entry way. These are some cool lights.
They only accept 3 prong CFL's and automatically come on at night
(unless I turn the switch off inside)

Removing Fake Shutters

Oi! Who in the world thought of fake shutters? One of the most
disgusting "embellishments" of modern home design. Okay they aren't
that bad but I find them highly annoying. So off they come!

And the walls come tumblin' down!

Making room for my big 'ol Buick!

Garage Door finally installed!

In less than 5 hours a one man army by the name of Tony installed my 18' wide x 7' tall garage door all by himself. He did an excellent job and was very nice, explained everything and was very professional. Thank you Lowe's!

Movie Seats are Finished!

Yes, that is underlighting. I installed rope lighting on the underside
of the platform. It looks totally awesome in total darkness. (camera
doesnt do well in low light, so i had turn on some other lights)
Juuuuuust enough ambient light to grab some popcorn or steal a kiss
from you S.O.!

"Stage" for movie seats

About to finish it up. Got the electrical working nicely with rope
lighting. The "stage" has a nice floating effect and looks great with
the hidden rope lighting. I'll post pics of that once it's all complete.

Frame for restored movie seats

So while I was in Nashvile I scored a set of rickety old movie seats
for $50. Right before I moved to Athens I took them completely apart,
de rusted them, reupholstered, repainted the hardware and restained
the wooden arm rests. They came out beautiful. Alas i had to keep the
parts in boxes as I haven't had a proper place to put them/show them
off until now that I have a house. The thing is they connect to one a
other and are extremely cumbersome and heavy to move around. So I got
the idea that I would build a mini stage to bolt them to and give them
a place to reside as I do t want to go drilling holes in the floors of
my house. So I've taken some pics of the progress. I haven't decided
how I'm going to finish them. I thought of using red carpet to go with
the whole movie them, but I really can't stand carpet and red won't
look good in the living room. So I'm thinking of staining it a dark
stain to match the arm rests. What do ya think?

Back to fencing

While I wait on Lowes to install the garage I'm moving back to working
on the fence. The dogs can't wait!

Who's There?

Scored a nice 2 tone retro-ish door bell at Lowes. It was on sale for
$17 (from 69.95!) Install was a cinch. Also scored a free original 1950's
Philco TV cabinet off of Craigslist. The tube is out, but it is in excellent condition.
I plan on installing a flatscreen LCD in it.

Finish out for Garage

Just a couple of pics of my handy work and 2 new Dewalt tools added to
my tool collection. My original miter saw was stolen from my carport
not long after I moved in. Everything I've worked on up until this
past weekend was cut with my $20 handsaw. Kind of ironic that now I'm
using my new miter saw to finish the garage for the door to secure
said tools. I think I just opened up a wormhole...

Hairpin Legs and All

After rummaging through my parents' 2 storage units, my mom offered
this great sewing table that someone had made for my grandmother way
back when. I love the hairpin legs. It's going to look great with my
butterfly chair! I also scored a killer credenza that was one of my
parent's first pieces of furniture that they bought in the early 60's.
I'll post a photo of it later. I'm thinking about putting it back to back
with my couch in the living room.

Garage Door soon!

Purchasing Garage door next week and still working on the privacy
fence. While vacationing at Folly Beach, SC for a friend's wedding a
month ago I saw the coolest touch to the gate of a privacy fence. The
owner had used bamboo poles of varying height to cover the gate
(instead of 1x6 boards) It was so awesome. I plan on doing the same
thing so right now I'm searching for bamboo poles!

Will L. Eskridge
www.willeskridge.com
biffbangpow.etsy.com

Sent from my iPhone

Painting Garage, Garden and Privacy Fence

Finally got the siding on the garage painted. I'll be installing corrugated metal roofing on the top part to give a real modern look. I think it'll be awesome. Check out my cucumber plant in my home made topsy turvy planter I made from a 2 liter bottle! yesterday at lunch I saw a bumblebee pollinating all the blooms! yay! In other news I've started the privacy fence as well. It's going pretty good and I really like the hard work. and hard work it is. I'm still using a clam shell post hole digger. People told me to just rent a one person auger, but honestly i really like the work out. My day job consists of sitting on my ass staring at a computer screen, so I take any chance to get outside and work out my body. Be sure to check out my carrots, pole beans and okra plant as well in the photos.

Things I've learnt...

thus far: (it's okay to laugh)

1. Measure twice, cut once.
   
2. Be sure to install trim BEFORE the siding.
3. Cutting fiber cement siding pre install with a utility knife is a pain in the ass.
4. Cutting fiber cement siding post install with a utility knife is a royal pain in the ass (see note 2.)
5. Beware of malfunctioning caulk tubes.
6. Caulk is great...when used sparingly.
7. Caulk is actually an "everything" magnet and you will find it where you least expect it. (see notes 5 and 6.)
8. Save your hardware store receipts.
   
9. Be sure to begin work on a satisfied stomach. Working when hungry only makes the project you are working on take longer and annoying.
10. Do not buy the cheapest materials. I repeat: Do NOT buy the cheapest materials.
11. Never assume any pre-constructed surface is square or plumb. ever.
12. A girlfriend who helps you put up fiber cement siding should be taken out to a fancy dinner immediately. Flowers would probably be good too.
13. 3:1 rule - If you hit your thumb more than 3 times while driving nails, it would be wise to stop nailing.
14. If you think you need a 6 foot ladder, buy an 8 foot.
15. A good set of properly built saw horses is worth it's weight in gold.
16. Those saw horse brackets are worthless pieces of junk. (see note 15)
    

More to come....

More Photos of Garage Conversion

Here are some more photos of the garage conversion. It is going very nicely I have to say. I've been having a lot of fun. Ginny helped me with the siding on Sunday. I'm using Hardiplank which is a fiber cement siding which is basically concrete. It's an non-toxic, eco friendly choice and is made from cement, silica and wood fibers. It was a little tricky to get use to. But after messing up one plank, we figured it out and got our groove and put the siding up in a few hours. You can read all about the product here.

I'm also adding the sides to the opening to accommodate a garage door. After the garage is done, I'm on to the privacy fencing!

Carport to Garage

I've been working pretty feverishly on converting my carport to a garage. In the past few weeks I've managed to frame out the exposed side, install sheathing, weather resistant barrier and 2 windows! It's been a very good learning experience and lot of fun. The only thing I'm not really happy with is the lack of "green" materials available in the area. I'm trying to be as eco-conscious as possible, but it's been a little tough. First I wanted to use FSC certified lumber. I could have sworn the Home Depot was one of the major proponents and carriers of FSC lumber. Well it must be region/store specific, because the Home Depot here as nada. Next I was trying to find "green" sheathing. I contacted a company called Berry Plastics that makes a great product called "Thermoply" However their regional sales person didn't really seem to know this area and said I could try 84 lumber. However, I called the local 84 lumber and they said they don't carry it. Then I'm trying to find eco friendly caulk and expanding foam. There's a low VOC caulk by Geocel and a soy based foam by Touch n Foam. Neither of which can be found in the area. Geocel's website lists a local Power Building Supply as a distributer. Says they are open on Saturdays, so I drove by and the place looks closed down and looks like a junk yard rather than a building supply. However I did manage to use a flashing that is made from recycled rubber! Yay! Sure I could order some of these things online, but how "green" would it be to have 2 cans of expanding foam shipped by a huge diesel rig? Or for me to drive all the way to Asheville and back for a couple of FSC certified boards? If anybody has any suggestions I am all ears. Enough of the soap box, below are some photos of the progress. I didn't get to take photos of the windows installed yet, as I just did this and finished at 10:00 p.m. so it's dark. I'll post tomorrow if I get a chance to take some photos. (The weird close photo is of my pliers stuck under the footer board. I inadvertently forgot they were there and couldn't for the life of me figure out why the board wouldn't tighten down. Luckily I figured it out before I cracked the brick foundation or split the board!) stay tuned...